On the other side of the coin, check out the "non-rot" ? I just discovered this afternoon. Posted it under "Sickies". In my "newbie-ness", I've killed a few (Astro. asterias & myrost., Oreocer.) to rot, but epidermis was so heavy, it took several weeks & a moderately aggressive "tug" to discover the bad news at the neckline. Gymno's are pretty thick-skinned...Peter

Once bitten by the cactus collecting/growing bug, there is no known cure!There's no 12 step programme for Cactaholics...so I shall just have to get some more!!

That Gymno is slowly starting to collapse now so I guess it was a doomed plant from the very begining, just got to chalk it up as a $2 learning experience.

1st of my zygo's is slowly getting going here, bought this one after it had flowered last season so it's a first in flower for me. Came with a Schlumbergera x reginae label.

Not a cactus but still, starting to get worried that this bud will collapse and fall off before it has a chance to open.

And my "headache" in the making, will get trouble from this bed before long I think. Both the M. geometrizans and C. peruvians are going nuts, the Cereus has put on 2.5 foot of growth through summer even with our misserable summer. If you looks closely at it you can make out 3 distinct "growth rings" from the 3 seasons I've had it in this bed.

Well, that's atleast what that bed looked like a few hours ago. Now there's atleast 2 plants up-rooted. Hidden underneath that pelican there's a manhole to a sewer line and i just had a knock on the door from Sydney water needing access to it! Houses upline from us had a blockage and they needed to flush the line. End result is 2 likely uprooted cactii and me seeing more floating turds than i really wanted to! Going to have to wait till daylight to really see the damage. Buggery!

Sorry about that, Snowfella I could say other more graphic phrases.... It's amazing how some of these disasters don't come anywhere near the top 300 imagined disasters! Something beneficial will come out of this !Peter

Once bitten by the cactus collecting/growing bug, there is no known cure!There's no 12 step programme for Cactaholics...so I shall just have to get some more!!

Luckily it didn't end up as bad as it looked under torchlight last night, no plants got fully uprooted just somewhat pushed over plus I lost some offsets from a clumping Lobivia. I've poked them back mostly into the spots they were in again and in doing so found that the Lobivia looks like it might be rotting from the bottom up. I've cuts some offsets of it in an attempt to re-root them but will leave the main part of the plant where it is to see what happens.

Seems summer has come late here in a way, after some misserable months of rain, rain and more rain the last week has been glorious. Sunny and reasonably warm, climbing up into the low 30's, during the days and no rain. Still though with it being this late in the season I'm not really seeing much in the way's of flowers or buds unless you count Zygo's, most of them are either starting to bud up or already in full bloom.

Schlumbergera x reginae in full swing at the moment.

My little M. mammillaris is pushing out more seedpods. Amazing how these form inside the plant and push out as they mature.

A large unknown Mamm has desided it's to heavy to stay upright, lighter in the pic for scale reference. No idea what I'll do with it when it desides to completely keel over. It's evident that's it's had a tough life in that photo with 2 rings caused by mealy infestation and lack of direct sunlight.

Outdoors bed is getting set for winter, hoping for flowers on the M. mystax come spring. It's trippled in size over summer even with the poor weather.

Another one that's grown some since I showed it last, the neighbours Hylocereus. Was once more in bloom last night by the looks of things.

And lastly something not so prickly, a ponytail growing in the front gardenbed seem like it's given up on growing just one head.There's 7 new sprouts coming out of the stem just in that photo with 3 or4 more coming from the caudex aswell.

Turned out that large leaning Mamm was having a harder life than what was intended for it. It's wasn't leaning from being to heavy but instead because of total stemrot. Cut some of the offsets off in order to try and save it and then binned the remains. Not the season for rooting offsets though so the chances I can rescue it are slim.

Getting onto winter down here everything has been moved into winter quarters, simply further in under the awning to keep the rain away. Still not sure what to do about watering as I still can see some growth from a handful of plants.

My white/pinkish zygo is about to explode just like last year.

And my M. gemetrizans has picked this time of year to start some new branches, 3 new ones this time around.

That's a lot of cacti compared to my collection......Also your location explains why your "Zygocatus" (Schlumbergera truncata) is about to explode, I will love to see that too (not really explode that is, as that will be tragic! )

Managed to negotiate to have my court approved monthly contact visit with my "dealer" today, judge and jury (ie the wife) drives a hard bargain and only allow me to go there once a month Came home with 2 replacements and one new addition. Replacements being M. senilis and M. prolifera, both plants I've killed during my first growing season. The new addition is as yet un-named though but I suspect it to be either a rhipsalis or Lepismum in a 10 inch hanging basket.

Ignore the parrot, wife's obessed with pot decorations at the moment

Better luck there though than another nursery visit last week, if the cactii had been in good order I might of come home with some new ones but with the state they were in all I could do was walk away in disgust.And they still want $21.95 for those 5 inch pots

More or less the end of season here downunder, only thing left to do untill things start warming up again is to keep the fingers crossed everything will survive the winter. Already worried about the extent of shrinkage some plants have but with nighttime temperatures creeping down towards 5C it's way to late to do anything about that now.

My white Schlumbergera is in full bloom right now, trying to outdo itself once again with flowers.

Other colours are lagging alittle behind, my red has opened some buds but purple and salmon coloured one are still stubbornly holding onto them.

M. hahniana has suprised me with flowers early this winter, overcast conditions won't let them open for long though but there's still plenty of buds to go.

And this Copiapoa hybrid is a real supprise, doubt I'll see it open though as I'm off for a mini holiday starting tomorrow.

Seedlings are going strong still though, bit slow but I can't complain as these are my first attempts at sowing seeds.1 year old Melocactus seeds from my "rescue" plant, harvested another 20 or so fruits from it this autumn so I have more seeds than what I know what to do with.